urbem marmoream: intellegens
by NamelessSaint
Summary: Alice still insists that Underland and all its inhabitants are not real, so Absolem sends her out to find the truth.


"I'll miss you when I wake up." Alice's attention was drawn back to the valley below, and how the mists seemed to weave in recognizable patterns.

Tarrant shook his head, his tone reflected his disappointment. "Well, then… I shall take this time for a late night tea. Fairfarren, Alice."

Alice closed her eyes; she had not meant to hurt the forlorn hatter, but she firmly held to the belief that this world was not real. At least, not real in the sense that London was real—with its choked and crowded streets, its citizens who lived on the edge of a knife. She sighed and lowered her head.

The voice was small, yet held a surprising bite. "Around the bend, again, dear girl?"

The girl looked to her left, and saw Absolem perched on an overhanging branch, his hookah beside him. "I'm ignoring you because you aren't real."

The caterpillar blew smoke in her direction. "Oh, am I not?"

Alice coughed. "Will you stop doing that!"

"Doing what?"

"I can't stand that smoke."

"Nonsense. If I'm just a figment then my imaginary smoke would be of little concern to you." More smoke followed.

"Enough already… for the moment we will agree that you are real. But only for this moment, mind you."

"Fair enough. I shall reiterate. Are you around the bend, again, stupid girl?"

"Completely bonkers… and I'm not stupid!"

"Stupid enough to tell that lonely hatter that he isn't real." Absolem looked at her pointedly.

Alice cringed. "I feel bad about that."

"As you should." This time, the smoke flew over Alice's head.

The blonde ducked her head. "Please stop."

Absolem puffed some more smoke. "It must be quite ridiculous to be off your head most of the time."

"Why do you say that?"

"Why do I say what?"

"That I'm off my head!"

"You are?"

Alice groaned. "Why must everything here be encased in riddles?"

The caterpillar adjusted his eyepiece. "Maybe because we here in Underland hold ourselves to a higher standard than those in the world above."

The young woman frowned. "How do you mean?"

"We talk in riddles yet understand each other perfectly. You speak with direct words yet fail to comprehend each other at all." Absolem puffed out a particularly pungent cloud of smoke. "Miserable lot, all of you."

"Well, maybe not all of them." The Cheshire cat materialized next to Alice and flipped onto his side.

Absolem puffed in his direction. "Who are you?"

"Your favorite broading brut, my dear caterpillar." Chessur turned his attention to Alice. "Hello, love."

"Hello, Chess." Alice continued to stare out into the trees, her eyes captivated by the mists swirling among them.

Absolem regarded the girl. "Perhaps Alice should see the Frabjous Day Room."

The cat evaporated then reappeared on the same branch as the caterpillar. "You know only one person is allowed in there—the White Queen."

"It is perhaps right to follow the rules all of the time, but it is equally right to ignore some rules when necessity dictates." He blew smoke at Chessur, who used his tail to wave it away.

The cat landed on his back in front of Alice. "I'll take you to the hall in Marmoreal where the Frabjous Day room is, but that's the end of it."

* * *

><p>"I still don't know why you brought me here." Alice appeared to be annoyed, but inwardly, she was a little curious.<p>

"Perhaps you had better look for yourself." Only his grin lasted for a few moments before completely disappearing.

The blonde tried the knob. "Brilliant, Alice, why didn't you get the key!"

Alice looked around the ornate door, trying to figure out if there were clues that would help her get inside. Just left of the door was a side table with a large vase on top of it. She reached into the vase and procured a key. The girl smiled, then turned suddenly at the sound of approaching footsteps. She carefully dropped the key back into the vase and hid around a corner, behind a potted tree. Alice peered from her hiding place and watched as Mirana of Marmoreal stepped up to the door. The White Queen sighed first, and then used the key to enter the room.

After several moments of waiting, the blonde crept up to the door and opened it. The door opened up to a rather long corridor with another door on the opposite side. As she proceeded down the hallway her path became illuminated by something unseen. The ethereal light showed a series of paintings on the walls.

Alice gasped and then stopped. The paintings were revealing scenes from her life, and they seemed alive. The pictures moved. She saw her christening, her first steps, and her miserable days at school. The girl slowed her steps as she watched her life played out before her.

The blonde stopped at the door, her head already spinning from the implications of what she already experienced. If she was expecting a grand and luxurious space, she was disappointed. She peered into a rather simple room. There was a fireplace on the opposite wall with a wooden mantle. Above that mantle was a large portrait of Alice, dressed in the armor of Marmoreal.

Alice entered the room and quietly closed the door behind her. She watched as the White Queen stared at her portrait, she seemingly did not hear Alice enter the room.

Mirana stared at the painting then looked down at her hands. "I don't have a lot time, and I don't know how to reach you if you keep on insisting my Kingdom isn't real—that I'm not real."

Alice continued to stare.

The White Queen looked back up to the portrait. "I'm very real, my dear Alice. And I built this room just so I could learn everything about you before we met. I wanted to know my Champion—to completely understand who you are, so I could talk to you as a friend. Well, maybe that's not completely true. These last few turns of the moon, I fell in love with you without having met you. I fell in love with your courage, your sweet and independent nature—even your stubbornness. All the things that I feel I don't have.

"My magic allowed me to see into your world, and I sent another to look for you, but I should have brought myself. Maybe if you had really met me you would know how much I need—how much Underland really needs you. I've failed my kingdom, and you."

"You haven't failed, Your Majesty." Alice's reply a whisper.

The White Queen whirled, and found herself face to face with Alice. "How long have you been here?"

"Perhaps too long." The beauty in front of her arrested Alice, and her breathing quickened.

"You heard everything?"

"How could I not?"

Mirana couldn't meet Alice's stare and turned away from the girl, but a hand fell onto her arm and gently tugged. The White Queen turned her head slowly and met Alice's easy smile.

The blonde continued to hold onto Mirana as she smoothly turned the other woman to face her. Her smile faded somewhat as she began to run her hands slowly down the White Queen's arms.

"Alice…" Mirana began to pull away.

"No, please, don't move." Alice's hands made their way up Mirana's arms, achingly slow, and with a feather light touch. She let her fingers slowly caress the White Queen's neck and move up leisurely to tangle into her hair.

Mirana closed her eyes when she realized what Alice was doing. _She understands… she's feeling for herself that I am real._

The smaller woman let her left hand stay in the White Queen's hair, but her right hand slowly trailed down Mirana's neck to her breasts. She looked up into the monarch's eyes, silently asking for permission, and sighed at the slight nod she received. Her hand ghosted over Mirana's breast and her breath quickened some more, coming out in short pants.

Alice stilled, her hands resting their movements, the feeling of Mirana's warm flesh under her touch exquisite. Her eyes fluttered, and she could feel Mirana's breath mixing with her own.

This was new, these feelings as she held onto the other woman. Alice had always known she was different but could never define just what exactly was distinctive from other girls, until now. Young men-they never made her body tingle as it did now. She was aware of moisture pooling between her legs.

Mirana groaned and lifted her own hand to cover Alice's, squeezing, bringing herself closer to the other woman, until their foreheads touched. "Do you still consider me unreal?"

Alice's other arm fell and wrapped around Mirana's waist, pulling their bodies flush against each other. Her mind reeled, her body arched, her hips pushed into the other woman's. "Mirana…"

The White Queen grabbed at Alice's hip, but her mind screamed at her; this was not the time, nor the place. "Alice, please…we need to stop."

The girl's head shot up as her hips thrust forward. "What?"

Mirana slowed them down, with a gentle coaxing, until both their bodies quieted. She rested her forehead, once again, on Alice's. "Still have your doubts, my sweet Alice?"

The blonde felt her heart twinge. "Not about you, Your Majesty."

"Alice, dear?"

"Yes?"

"Call me 'Mirana.'"

Alice looked up and caught the White Queen's look of concern. "I'm afraid, Mirana."

"Of Frabjous Day, facing the Jabberwock?"

"I don't know if I can do it."

The White Queen took Alice by the hand. "Come, Alice, let us not think of such things now. You need rest, and so do I." she turned questioning eyes toward the girl when she felt a small amount of resistance.

"Where are we going?" Alice questioned.

"I thought I would show you to your room."

The girl frowned. "I don't want to be alone."

The monarch regarded the young girl for a few moments. "Would you like to accompany me to my own chambers?"

Alice looked relieved. "Yes, thank you."

Mirana took Alice's hand and together they walked the halls of Marmoreal to the Queen's chamber, both lost in thought, of what the morrow might bring.


End file.
